The Associate Vice President, Brand Communications, and Insights responsibilities include managing brand communications and insights that support the **MEMBERS ONLY**SIGN UP NOW .'s (APUS) growth objectives and long-term brand strategy and development. The incumbent builds and leads brand and media communication efforts; collects and analyzes data to evaluate existing and potential products, programs, campaigns, and market segments; and identifies and monitors peer institutions and market or industry conditions that may impact student growth or retention. The incumbent manages $2 million in channel resources and initiatives that include advertising and community engagement programs. Essential Functions: *Monitors, solicits and champions the voice of the customer, including key responsibility for customer insights regarding their needs and motivators. ?Manages messaging strategies for various University audiences including corporate and education partners, prospective students, and current students. ?Conducts market research regarding decision drivers, their prospect journey, and the end-to-end experience. *Manages messaging and maintains positioning documents that highlight differentiators and key brand attributes. Ensuring that projects and campaigns adhere to current legal and brand standards of differentiation and positioning. ?Serves as liaison to academics and executive members regarding brand strategy ?Highlights institutional differentiators (ie, flagship programs, faculty, members of the students and alumni community, etc.) *Oversees and prioritizes the strategy for building brand champions for the University, including strategic oversight of the ambassador program; Including the cultivation of thousands of brand champions (students, alumni, staff, and faculty) who can help us strengthen brand awareness in the larger consumer space. *Initiates, leads, and drives execution of brand awareness, referrals and engagement campaigns which may include building communication plans; directing work of vendors/agencies; building creative concepts for print/online advertising; managing direct mail campaigns, multimedia executions, strategic events, and more. *Manages the brand awareness and engagement staff and steers significant vendor-partner relationships in the areas of print and broadcast media, fulfillment, and market and consumer research. *Develops and executes integrated brand awareness campaigns that are broad in reach and scope, often across multiple audiences and channels, measuring success based on brand awareness and perception baselines/snapshots over time as well as students from referral sources. *Directs initiatives to identify and highlights student outcomes working with student and alumni and other University departments, including efforts related to returning for another degree. *Manages trademarks, legal documents, and specimen of brand use. *Manages coordination of engagement and ambassador activities between departments for commencement and other community events. *Monitors higher education, distance education, and training fields for changing market conditions and competitive landscape, while identifying opportunities and barriers. *Collects and analyzes data to coordinate market research to evaluate and position existing and potential products and programs. *Creates marketing briefs and communication plans related to the launch of new offerings and segment campaigns (ie, doctoral, specialty accreditations, Momentum/CBE, etc.). Plans and executes based on trends, needs, and results. *Performs other duties as assigned. Work Environment and Physical Demands: *Standard office environment in Manassas, VA. *This position will require a three days minimum in the Manassas office; the incumbent will have the option to telecommute a maximum of two days per week. *The position will require limited travel.Strong internet market research skills, ability to quickly and accurately find, absorb, and analyze market information and recognize patterns and trends. Understanding of and experience using branding principles. Strong organization, communication, and teamwork skills, namely the ability to work with all levels of management/staff and across departments to collect info and build consensus; the ability to motivate and drive teams. Experience analyzing and managing multimedia marketing executions. Solid copywriting ability. Knowledge of online social networking sites as a component of marketing initiatives. Knowledge of the fundamentals of the printing process. Demonstrated expertise in complex brand architecture and management. Required Experience: Bachelor's in marketing or similar concentration required. Preferred Master's degree in a marketing-related field preferred. Ten or more years of integrated marketing experience required. Extensive experience conducting and directing marketing research. Solid experience developing financial models for marketing programs and campaigns. Experience sourcing and managing agency partners. Solid experience initiating and managing teams and vendor relationships Experience managing online campaigns and integrated marketing initiatives. Solid experience managing promotions, including developing appropriate targeting, offers, and messages; executing campaigns via online/traditional channels; and tracking response rates, conversion rates, and ROI.